Recaps

Hermione gathered students at the Hog's Head to organize practical Defence Against the Dark Arts lessons because Umbridge was not teaching them useful skills. She told the group that Voldemort was back.

• Harry questioned Hermione about bringing her pet, Su Er, to the pub, and she explained that the group was meeting to study.
• A large crowd of students from several houses arrived at the Hog's Head, including Cedric Diggory and Cho Chang.
• Hermione addressed the gathering and criticized Umbridge's lessons for offering theory instead of practical Defence Against the Dark Arts.
• Hermione proposed that the students train themselves to cast spells that could protect them in danger.
• Hermione declared that Voldemort was back.

Harry explained why he believed Voldemort had returned and defended Hermione’s plan for a Defence Against Dark Magic study group. When Zacharias challenged his qualifications, Harry demonstrated the Patronus Charm, leaving the group with proof that he could teach them.

• Zacharias Smith questioned whether Voldemort had returned and demanded evidence.
• Harry recounted the night he lost Su Er and said he would not keep trying to convince those who refused to believe him.
• Hermione proposed organizing a Defence Against Dark Magic study group, but Zacharias challenged who would teach it.
• Ron, Neville, Susan Bones, Justin, and Cho Chang cited Harry’s and Cedric’s experience in support of them as teachers.
• Harry cast a silver stag Patronus in front of the group, demonstrating his skill and silencing Zacharias.

Hermione organized the students into a secret Defence Against Dark Magic study group, and Cedric persuaded them to prioritize training over Quidditch. After the meeting, Ginny invited Harry to Honeydukes while Michael Corner showed interest in her.

• Hermione proposed weekly Defence lessons and said Harry would teach the Patronus Charm if their secret teacher proved ineffective.
• Cedric urged the students to put defensive training before Quidditch, and Neville shared that he had personally experienced the previous war.
• Hermione arranged for the group to meet somewhere in the castle and had everyone sign a parchment to keep the study group secret.
• Hermione secured the signed parchment in a locked box inside her expanded bag, and the meeting broke up.
• Ginny invited Harry to Honeydukes, Ron joined them, and Su Er watched Michael Corner's interest in Ginny.

Hermione returned to the Hog's Head with Su Er, who exposed Mundungus disguised as a witch and learned that several people had been watching the pub. Su Er asked Mundungus to obtain a magical mask for the planned study group, leaving Mundungus to deliver it that night.

• Hermione returned to the Hog's Head with Su Er, who revealed himself and greeted Aberforth.
• Su Er recognized the disguised witch as Mundungus by his smell and large feet, and Aberforth confronted him for entering the pub.
• Su Er stopped Aberforth from attacking Mundungus and learned that Dumbledore had sent him to watch over them.
• Mundungus identified the bandaged wizard as Willy Widdershins, who was working for Fudge and Umbridge, and reported that the other two wizards had markings on their arms.
• Su Er asked Mundungus to obtain a magical mask that could change a person's face and voice, and Mundungus agreed to deliver one that night.

Hermione worried that Umbridge had learned about the Defence Against Dark Magic group, but Su Er reassured her that Dumbledore would support the students. Umbridge then banned student groups, while Hermione prepared the first meeting and Su Er tested a disguise pin, ending in a playful chase with Hermione.

• Hermione told Su Er that Mundungus Fletcher had heard about the group, and Su Er said Dumbledore would know and would not stop students from learning.
• Umbridge posted a decree banning student groups and requiring approval for gatherings of three or more people.
• Hermione assured Harry and Ron that her enchanted contract would punish anyone who informed on the group, then scheduled its first meeting for Wednesday evening.
• Su Er received and tested a pin that changed his face and voice, and Hermione laughed at his mismatched appearance.
• Su Er chased Hermione around the Room of Requirement after she teased him, and she begged him to stop as the room turned off the lights.

Hermione gathered Harry and the Weasley children in the Room of Requirement for Defence practice, then revealed that their mysterious instructor was Su Er disguised as Professor Aibo. Professor Aibo entered the room and introduced himself as a former Hogwarts student returning to teach them.

• Hermione showed Harry and the Weasley children how to enter the Room of Requirement by walking three times along the wall while thinking of a practice room.
• Hermione let the group members into the room, then dried Neville and Hannah after Peeves had soaked them with water balloons.
• Hermione waited outside and addressed Su Er, who had taken Polyjuice Potion and appeared as a burly man with shoulder-length blond hair.
• Su Er told Hermione to call him Professor Aibo, and she welcomed him to Hogwarts.
• Professor Aibo entered the arranged practice room and thanked Miss Granger for letting him return to his old school.

Su Er, posing as Professor Aibo, reassured the students that Dumbledore knew about their secret group and challenged them to test his teaching ability in a duel. He calmly dodged every spell from seven young wizards, then left them stunned with a taunt.

• Zacharias Smith questioned Su Er’s identity and motives, but Hermione claimed Dumbledore knew about the group, and Su Er said Dumbledore had wanted him to teach Defense Against the Dark Arts.
• Smith challenged Su Er to prove he was skilled enough to teach, so Su Er proposed a duel and invited the students to attack him together.
• Smith, Fred, George, Cedric Diggory, and three other young wizards stepped forward, while Hermione agreed to referee.
• Hermione started the duel, and Su Er dodged the spells cast at him without raising his wand.
• Su Er returned to his original position and asked the seven wizards, “That was it?”

Su Er faced seven young wizards in a duel to prove he was qualified to teach them, effortlessly defeating them with superior skill and nonverbal magic. He left Zacharias Smith as the sole opponent, poised to continue the fight.

• Cedric took charge as the seven young wizards planned a coordinated attack, but Su Er dodged their spells with ease.
• Su Er outmaneuvered the group’s tactics and caused Fred and George to knock each other down with their own Stunning Spells.
• After Cedric’s team abandoned its plan, Su Er silently cast three spells that dropped three more young wizards.
• Su Er broke through Cedric’s Shield Charm by hiding a nonverbal Petrificus Totalus beneath a visible Stunning Spell, knocking Cedric down.
• Su Er asked Zacharias Smith whether the duel had proved his teaching qualifications, then prepared to attack as Smith tried to stop him.

Su Er led the young wizards in organizing a secret Defense group and explained why they needed to avoid a name that could implicate Dumbledore. He began their first lesson by emphasizing the importance of a wand and asked whether they had truly learned the Disarming Charm.

• Su Er taught the gathered students not to trust an opponent who still held a wand, then released Zacharias Smith after keeping him immobilized as punishment.
• The students chose Harry to lead the group when Su Er could not attend their lessons.
• Hermione and the others settled on the name Defence Against Dark Magic Association, or D.A., after Su Er warned that calling it Dumbledore's Army could give the Ministry evidence against Dumbledore.
• Neville identified a wand as a wizard's most important piece of equipment, and Su Er explained the limits of Wandless Magic.
• Su Er announced that he would teach the Disarming Charm and challenged the students to consider whether they had truly learned it.

Su Er, posing as Aibo, demonstrated how magical power could strengthen and precisely control spells while teaching the young wizards not to underestimate basic magic. The Weasley twins eagerly asked to learn the techniques.

• Su Er selected Zacharias Smith to defend against his Disarming Charm, and Smith prepared a Shield Charm and other protections.
• Su Er's Disarming Charm blasted Smith across the room and knocked away his wand, after which Su Er revived him and explained the spell's knockback effect.
• Su Er warned that powering a spell with too much magic could exhaust or overtax a wizard, then demonstrated splitting a spell to disarm many wizards at once.
• Su Er showed how compressing magical power made a Reductor Curse strong enough to shatter a dummy, then restored both dummies with Reparo.
• The Weasley twins shouted that they wanted to learn the techniques.

Su Er taught the young wizards to practice the Disarming Charm in the Room of Requirement, correcting their technique and stopping the Weasley twins’ mischief. He ended the lesson before curfew, leaving the students curious about the advanced counter-spell he had used and its role in saving Paris.

• Su Er warned the students not to practice advanced magic alone, then paired them up to practice the Disarming Charm with Hermione helping him supervise.
• Su Er corrected the students’ aim and casting, praised Ginny Weasley’s performance, and advised Ron Weasley on putting emotion into his spells.
• Su Er caught Fred Weasley and George Weasley aiming spells at him, hoisted them upside down with Levicorpus, and left them hanging while the lesson continued.
• Hermione reminded Su Er that curfew was approaching, so he used an advanced counter-spell to end the practice and lower the twins safely to the floor.
• Su Er warned Fred and George that he would tell Molly, then explained that his counter-spell had once helped save Paris and sent the students back to their dormitories.

Su Er narrowly avoided being recognized by Justin and Morn while disguised as Mr. Aibo, then worked with Hermione and Dumbledore on a discreet way to notify members of their study group about meetings. The notification coins were completed, and Su Er asked Dumbledore to guide the students at a meeting.

• Justin and Morn questioned Su Er, disguised as Mr. Aibo, about his wand's resemblance to Su Er Bones's wand, but left unsure whether they had recognized him.
• Hermione returned to the Room of Requirement, and Su Er told her he had nearly been exposed; they agreed not to stay there much longer.
• Hermione proposed using Transfiguration and ancient runes to make an item that would discreetly notify study-group members of meeting times.
• Su Er enlisted Dumbledore's help and finished enchanting the last gold coin for the notification system.
• Dumbledore approved the group's focus on basic spells and asked what it studied, and Su Er invited him to attend a meeting and offer guidance.

Hermione learned that Dumbledore had agreed to secretly teach the group as Mr. Aibo, and the students benefited from his lessons at their third and fourth meetings. While Hogwarts gathered for the Quidditch match, Su Er stayed behind and overheard two Ravenclaw students searching the Castle for something.

• Hermione met Su Er at the Room of Requirement, where he told her Dumbledore had agreed to teach them without revealing his identity.
• Hermione was delighted that Dumbledore would instruct the group, even if he could teach them only once.
• Dumbledore taught the students as Mr. Aibo at their third and fourth meetings, sharing insights into basic spells.
• As the Quidditch House Cup match began, Su Er stayed behind while Hermione left with Ginny.
• Su Er overheard two Ravenclaw students searching the Castle for something and wondered what they were looking for.

Su Er investigated why Ravenclaw students were searching Hogwarts, while Gryffindor celebrated its Quidditch victory despite a fight with Slytherin. The chapter ended with Umbridge banning Harry, George, and Fred from playing Quidditch, prompting Gryffindors to rally against the decision.

• Su Er followed Ravenclaw students around the castle but learned nothing about what they were searching for.
• Professor McGonagall escorted Harry and George from the pitch after a brawl, while Gryffindor and Slytherin students traded insults.
• Su Er asked Hermione about the Ravenclaws, and Hermione decided to question Cho Chang about their secret search.
• Hermione told Su Er that Cho and the other Ravenclaws seemed nervous, and they considered sneaking into the Ravenclaw common room.
• Harry told the Gryffindor Quidditch team that Umbridge had confiscated his broom and banned him, George, and Fred from playing.
• Gryffindor students called the ban unfair and began volunteering to confront Professor McGonagall.

Harry learned that Umbridge had banned him, Fred, and George from Quidditch for life, while Ron returned and apologized for his role in the match. Hermione and Su Er secretly visited Hagrid after he returned from his mission, where Hagrid revealed that he and Olympe had failed.

• Ron returned to the common room and apologized to Harry, who told him that Umbridge had banned him from Quidditch for life alongside Fred and George.
• Harry, Ron, and Ginny went to bed without learning that Hagrid had returned, while Hermione noticed the light at his hut and Su Er stopped her from telling them.
• Hermione and Su Er visited Hagrid at his hut and found him badly injured after his return.
• Hagrid confirmed that the giants had injured him and told Su Er and Hermione that he and Olympe had failed.

Su Er and Hermione hid in their Animagus forms while Umbridge questioned Hagrid, then warned him about her scrutiny of his classes. Su Er told Hagrid that Dumbledore wanted him to recruit support from the Forbidden Forest’s creatures and that he would try to persuade the centaurs.

• Su Er stopped Hermione from using a Disillusionment Charm, and they hid as Animagi when Umbridge arrived at Hagrid’s house.
• Umbridge questioned Hagrid about his absence from Hogwarts and announced that she would soon inspect his classes before leaving.
• Hermione warned Hagrid that Umbridge was seeking grounds to dismiss people, but Hagrid remained unconcerned about his upcoming lessons.
• Su Er explained that Dumbledore had required him to remain presumed dead and asked Hagrid not to mention him to Harry and the others.
• Su Er told Hagrid that Dumbledore wanted the Forbidden Forest’s creatures to support Hogwarts in a future war, and Hagrid agreed to help him approach them while Su Er handled the centaurs.

Hermione discovered Umbridge’s new authority under Educational Decree Number Twenty-Five and tried to warn Hagrid about the danger of his planned Care of Magical Creatures lessons. Hagrid refused to change his plans, though he hinted that the animals were familiar to Hogwarts students beyond first years.

• Hermione returned from the Forbidden Forest with Su Er and worried that Hagrid would suffer for ignoring her advice about Umbridge.
• Hermione carried Su Er to visit Hagrid, where they saw Filch post Educational Decree Number Twenty-Five, giving the High Inquisitor supreme authority over student punishments and privileges.
• Hermione urged Hagrid to use safer creatures in his lessons, but Hagrid insisted his planned animals were not dangerous and rejected her concerns about Umbridge.
• Hagrid told Hermione that Dumbledore remained headmaster and said no one could drive people from Hogwarts without his approval.
• Hagrid refused to reveal his lesson plans but hinted that the animals were ones Hogwarts students encountered every year, except first years.

At the final D.A. gathering before Christmas, Su Er, disguised as Mr. Aibo, tested the students’ progress and began teaching them the Patronus Charm. He left them with holiday homework to collect happy memories before their next meeting.

• Hermione worried that Umbridge was using Hagrid’s lessons about Thestrals to target him because of his giant ancestry.
• Su Er arrived at the D.A. gathering and had the students practise combining the Stunning Spell, Impediment Jinx, and Shield Charm while moving.
• Su Er praised the students’ progress, then introduced the Patronus Charm and explained that it required strong positive emotions as well as correct wand movements and incantation.
• Su Er assigned the students to remember happy holiday experiences and taught them to pronounce “Expecto Patronum.”

Su Er spoke with Dumbledore in the Headmaster’s Office about the Ministry, Dumbledore’s hidden plans, and Hagrid’s courtship with Madame Maxime. Their conversation was interrupted when Harry reported seeing Arthur Weasley attacked by a huge snake, leaving Dumbledore to face an urgent warning.

• Su Er told Dumbledore he had taught students the Patronus Charm’s gestures and pronunciation, and Dumbledore explained that he wanted the students to unite while he gained time to act unseen.
• Dumbledore told Su Er that Madame Maxime had written anxiously about Hagrid, and Su Er agreed to encourage Hagrid to be more proactive.
• Professor McGonagall brought Harry and Ron into the Headmaster’s Office after Harry insisted he had witnessed something real.
• Harry told Dumbledore that he had seen through a snake’s perspective as it bit Arthur Weasley.

Dumbledore responded to Arthur Weasley’s attack by sending Harry and the Weasley children to St. Mungo’s, while Umbridge arrived too late to stop them. She then invoked her authority as High Inquisitor to demand oversight of student matters.

• Dumbledore learned from Everard and Dilys that Arthur Weasley had been taken to St. Mungo’s alive, and sent word to the Weasley family.
• Dumbledore questioned Harry about seeing the attack through a snake’s eyes and arranged for Harry and the Weasley children to travel to St. Mungo’s by Portkey.
• Fawkes’s warning alerted Dumbledore that Umbridge knew students were out of bed, so he sent McGonagall to distract her.
• Harry briefly showed cold, snake-like eyes before vanishing with the others, and Umbridge entered the Headmaster’s Office to question Dumbledore about his absence.
• Umbridge cited Educational Decree Number Twenty-Five and asserted her right to be informed about all matters concerning students.

Dumbledore took Su Er to St. Mungo’s to visit Arthur Weasley and showed him a lifelike, soulless replica of his own body, which was being used to conceal his survival. Su Er agreed to remain disguised as a patient through Christmas while Dumbledore’s allies kept the deception in place.

• Dumbledore warned Su Er that power required self-restraint, then asked him to accompany him to St. Mungo’s to see Arthur Weasley.
• Dumbledore and Su Er used Fawkes to travel to St. Mungo’s after midnight and made their way to the Spell Damage Department.
• Dumbledore showed Su Er a breathing, lifelike shell resembling him and explained that it had been created to fool the healers into believing he had died.
• Dumbledore asked Su Er to pose as a patient through Christmas while the shell’s lifespan was extended.
• Dumbledore said an Order of the Phoenix member would replace the ward’s usual healer and that Miss Granger would care for Su Er as family.

Su Er remained in St. Mungo’s under an enhanced Draught of Living Death while Tonks and Hermione maintained the illusion that he was gravely ill. After taking an awakening potion and disguising himself as Aibo, he left the hospital with Moody as masked men began a diversion for the Master’s plan.

• Tonks told Su Er that Moody would replace him at eight, and Su Er took the enhanced Draught of Living Death before hearing Harry arrive.
• Three masked men appeared near Purge and Dowse Ltd. and hurried to draw attention away from the Master’s plan, which involved Greyback’s men.
• Su Er took the awakening potion at St. Mungo’s, while Moody used magic to leave a decoy in his hospital bed.
• Su Er explained that the hair for his Polyjuice Potion came from an Icelandic wizard in a Hogsmeade tour group and took the name Aibo.
• Su Er used a Disillusionment Charm and left with Moody, hoping they could still get hot roast turkey.

Su Er and Hermione were caught in a werewolf attack at St. Mungo’s, where a black-robed assailant had conjured moonlight to trigger the transformation. After a boy risked himself to save a little girl, Hermione restrained the werewolf and Su Er dispelled the false moon, leaving the crowd able to fight back.

• Su Er joined Hermione in the hospital hall, where she remembered Fred and George had secretly given her a sealed letter.
• A black-robed man extinguished the lights and conjured a silver orb, triggering a patient’s transformation into a werewolf.
• The werewolf killed a wizard and charged at Avril, a little girl who had fallen amid the fleeing crowd.
• A boy cast Impedimenta and ran to lift Avril, but the werewolf broke free and turned on him.
• Hermione cast Impedimenta and Swamp Mire at the werewolf while Su Er used Finite Incantatem to destroy the conjured moon.
• The hospital visitors remembered they could use magic against the lone werewolf.

Cornelius Fudge arrived at St. Mungo's after a werewolf attack and learned that three werewolves had assaulted the hospital, injuring Arthur and others upstairs. Moody headed off to see Arthur after rebuking Percy for downplaying his father's injuries.

• Fudge arrived with Aurors and found one werewolf restrained in the hall and a victim lying in a pool of blood.
• Madam Smeltings approached the victim while Fudge asked about the attack.
• Moody brought two unconscious werewolves into the hall and reported that several people upstairs had been injured.
• Madam Smeltings sent healers upstairs to treat the injured and ordered the staff to check the werewolves and search for other victims.
• Fudge asked Percy to take him to Arthur, but Percy called his injuries minor and said Mr. Ulysses was waiting for him.
• Moody warned Percy that Arthur had nearly been killed, then went to find Su Er and the others.

After Neville saved a little girl from a werewolf, Su Er praised his courage and reassured him that his parents would be proud. The chapter ended with Su Er promising to visit Neville’s parents as Moody approached.

• Neville returned the girl safely to her mother and accepted the Galleons she offered.
• Su Er and Hermione congratulated Neville, and Mrs. Longbottom arrived to check that he was unharmed.
• Su Er praised Neville’s Herbology talent, then defended him when Mrs. Longbottom said she wanted him to become an Auror like his father.
• Su Er told Mrs. Longbottom that Neville had bravely stopped the werewolf from attacking the girl and said he would ask Dumbledore to award Gryffindor points.
• Su Er told Neville that his parents would be proud of him and promised to visit them before wishing him a Merry Christmas.